Any 09 bandit info?

[Brent4336]

Picked up a 9m to test when they first came out but ended up going with a flat 5 sle for a quiver. Kept the 9 and gotta say it's grown on me steadily over the year.

Definitely think there is merit to the design. Tons of power per size, Stable and predictable, nice unhooked, well built*, great safety/relaunch.

Needs: * the only construction beef I have is that it needs a better strut to LE connection. They added a few strips of webbing shortly after the initial series came out but I have yet to hear if that was a good fix. Could see the stress points on mine after a while and did a little preventive maintenance with kitefix. That stuff is da bomb.

The bridle lines got kinda sketchy at the pulleys. Added a pulley insert as per most sle's. NOTE: this insert has got to be long (like 5 ft) to allow the kite to fully lie on its back and preserve the function of the safety.

I hear the tips of the LE fold under heavy load. I don't watch the kite much and cant really feel it, so its not a big deal to me, but I do hear the TE flap a bit in hard loops.

The bar pressure is a little high, and the required sheeting range a bit big. In the gusty stuff the bar is all over the place though the kite is well behaved. Any tweak to drop a bit of pressure and reduce the needed throw would make it great.

The shorter depower rope was a must and the beginning of me liking the kite. Love the tiny 45cm bar and now that I've stripped all the trimming doo dads, floats and donkey dick its a pretty sweet little bar. Re-rigged it with a convertible set of Q-power. The option of both 20 and 25m lines is handy and would be a good move for the production bar.

The only other issue I can come up with is that it occasionally flips through its own lines when crashed. Relaunches fine and rides safely, but you can sometimes get one rear line wrapped around one front line requiring a trip to the beach or a crash and sort out session that can get sketchy cause you gotta do some creative unwinding and detach the leash for a sec.

Despite my gripes, I really like the kite and hope it holds up for a few good years.

Anyone close to the source know what's coming down the pipe?

[kitezilla]

Sorry to answer your question with a question, but I am interested in knowing how well the "two- line-simulating-a-fifth-line" safety systems really work, during a deep water self-rescue. The Bandit, along with the EVO, along with the new Crossbow IDS, all employ this type of safety.

When your kite flipped through its lines, did you do a deep water self-rescue, and if so, did the crossing of the lines cause you any concern or problems, during he self-rescue, as you were winding up your lines to access the kite?

It sounds like you consider the system as being "safe". Do you think that it is as "safe" as the single line safety systems, that you have used in the past?

[Brent4336]

On the bandit the pseudo 5th works great and the kite will sit on its back just as a 5 line kite does.

No need to self rescue when the kite did the flip through one rear line. The kite relaunches fine and flies fine due precisely to the fact that there is a single line part way up and not two separate front lines. You could safely ride for the rest of your session like that, but most kiters are too anal to forget about it and ride. The safety will still work fine when you need it again. Just ride back to the beach, land and fix it by threading the bar between the one back line and the single front line. Might not make much sense on paper, but its pretty simple when you have to do it. Doesn't happen often. Three times so far in a year, but I don't use that kite all the time.

Yeah, I consider it safe. Have dropped it to safety in 30+ knots with no pull as it sits on its back downwind. Thing relaunches super easy too.

[panchito]

Needs: * the only construction beef I have is that it needs a better strut to LE connection. They added a few strips of webbing shortly after the initial series came out but I have yet to hear if that was a good fix.

No


Saludos

Franz

[mig27]

Needs: * the only construction beef I have is that it needs a better strut to LE connection. They added a few strips of webbing shortly after the initial series came out but I have yet to hear if that was a good fix.

No


Saludos

Franz

???


Anyway, love my 9m2 too. And so far only got it through it's lines (and dit caught up with the tip as you describe) ones. And I have crashed the kite many times. The bridle wears out a lot, especially on sandy beaches. But nothing different than any other kite with pulley's.

Bar pressure is a very personal thing. Yesterday I gave my 9m2 to a heavy weight rider who is used to Rhino06 14/10. When he came back he was thrilled that he could ride the kite with one hand. He was no body builder what soever.

Also I do not find the bar pressure high. It is high compared with a Waroo08, SS Rev or OR Rise08 for example. But for me just fine. Thanks to the delta design stalling the kite is virtually impossible. This makes people hang on the bar firmly where a little bit of pressure would give the same result without the huge bar pressure. It is just something you should get used to.

Especially when you ride the kite very fast in flat water you can easily feel the difference in pulling hard or gentle on the bar. You even will get more boardspeed with the last option.

So please do not change the bar pressure F-one.

The webbing on the third generation kite is good. Had not had any problems where my first Bandit had a tear in the center strut after 4 sessions:



What could be improved is the support in high winds of the 7.5m2 And slightly faster steering of the bigger sizes (11 and 13). Although it does not result in less performance the flappering of the tips in low winds is just annoying.

[Brent4336]

I hear you on the bar pressure bit.

Like most kites you can ride it on the edge of that pressure and it works fine, but there are plenty of times I want to oversheet a little to keep it deeper in the window and the pressure is not what I'd call light.

Not a big deal.

[Tvillegus]

I have 2 problems with my bandit:

1. The kite deforms when slightly underpowered if i try to jump it. Easy enough to get around though.

2. The big issue i have had (and one of the other riders at my local beach), my front line snapped where the front depower line and the lifeline merge into one line. This appears to be a weak point in the design. This may be gotten around by using a higher guage line. I'm currently running a 3mm spectra line from the top of the depower rope to the swivel to take the load, while having the lifeline hanging loose separately. The main issue is if the line had have snapped while i was overpowered the kite would have fallen back on the lifeline and powered up because i was still hooked in.

I think for next year, if f-one are going to use the same system, either increase the strength of that join, or allow for an alternate line setup with a higher guage (extra cost if need be).

Other than that, the bandit is by far and away the best performing kite i have ridden, and i have demo'd every kite coming through our local store.

[panchito]

Needs: * the only construction beef I have is that it needs a better strut to LE connection. They added a few strips of webbing shortly after the initial series came out but I have yet to hear if that was a good fix.

No


Saludos

Franz

???

Sorry ... I didn´t want to go into any bashing .... the 3 stripes thing works better than the single one on the first gen . but the problem still there ... have seen several 3 stripes struts Bandits badly teared apart , maybe our local conditions are different and you may never experience this problem ( was told that this problem mostly happens when flying the kite in extreme gusty conditions and over powered )

Make a visual check after every session to the main + middle struts and the minute you see any material fatigue specially on the sewing , take care of it .

Overall it is a nice kite .... a bit to much bar pressure for my taste

Saludos


Franz

[Dr_Rosen]

Others will be releasing "Bandit" Delta shape kites in 09, so it seems F-one found a good formula. In the thread "RRD 2009" it is revealed that RRD will come out with a D-shape called RRD Passion.
Statement from one who tried it: "The Passion is a D-Shape but a lot more aggressive than the Bandit, which makes it the most stable kite I have ever used!".

I haven't tried neither so just passing rumours......

[mx5alan]

Needs: * the only construction beef I have is that it needs a better strut to LE connection. They added a few strips of webbing shortly after the initial series came out but I have yet to hear if that was a good fix. Could see the stress points on mine after a while and did a little preventive maintenance with kitefix. That stuff is da bomb.

What sort of maintenance - could you post a photo ?

My 11m has got three straps - the extra one is stitched across the 2 which form the V shape.

I hear the tips of the LE fold under heavy load. I don't watch the kite much and cant really feel it, so its not a big deal to me, but I do hear the TE flap a bit in hard loops.

how much load ?

But the same is true on all kites, there comes a point where the given loading will collapse the kite - just means you need a bigger kite as you have exceeded its usable range. IIRC there were posts about similar issue on the first GK-Sonics where people where trying to fly them in excess of 35 knts. of wind. ?
Note: F-one says you can use one size smaller than you would normally eg: 9m Bandit = 11m traditional 'C'
So, if tips collapse under extreme load you need to be flying the 11m Bandit. etc... ?